Fresh Eggs Daily Book Review AND Giveaway!

If you follow any chicken themed blogs, chances are you've heard of and visited Fresh Eggs Daily written by Lisa Steele. Lisa focuses her posts on natural methods to keep your chickens healthy and happy, and has become quite the expert on the topic. So much so, that she wrote a book about it!

I was thrilled to receive a copy of Lisa's book to review and I am so excited to tell you about it. Just as the title suggests, the book is about raising happy, healthy chickens naturally. In her years of keeping chickens, Lisa has discovered that herbs, greens, and flowers play a very important role in maintaining chickens' health. Over the past several years, I have been more interested in preventive care and treatment for myself using natural remedies like herbs, so it only makes sense that I would extend this to my chickens as well!

Fresh Eggs Daily is very well written and easy to read, with loads of beautiful photos that Lisa took herself. The book is organized to take you through how to use herbs in your chicken coop (I can't wait to try out the lavender mint coop refresh spray!) and also how to feed herbs to your chickens. Lisa guides you through the summer and winter months to show how to be sure your chickens stay healthy with the changing weather.

I appreciated the section in the appendix with a long list of the health benefits of common herbs, weeds, and flowers. One list is organized by plant name, and another list is organized by the benefit provided. This way I know exactly what to reach for when I notice a specific problem. So handy!

I believe this book is essential for any chicken keeper. Like the old saying goes - an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. If you can head off potential sickness in your flock using common herbs and greens, why not give it a shot? It's much better than treating with harsh medications after a problem creeps up.

I would encourage all the chicken keepers out there to get their own copy of Lisa's book right now! You can purchase the book on Amazon by clicking here.

Lisa has also generously provided a copy of her book for one of my readers. For your chance to win a free copy of Fresh Eggs Daily, enter using the widget below. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway
In addition to my giveaway, many other bloggers are participating in a virtual book tour with more chances for you to win a copy of the book. Visit all the other stops along the Fresh Eggs Daily Blog Tour to read some more great reviews and to enter to win a copy!

Week One

October 14th
Louise's Country Closet & Natural Chicken Keeping

October 15th
Farmhouse38

October 16th
The Nerdy Farmwife & Lessons Learned from the Flock

October 17th
Colored Egg Homestead & Our Neck Of the Woods

October 18th
Let This Mind Be in You & Sunny Simple Life

Week Two

October 21st

1840 Farm

October 22nd

Timber Creek Farm & The Land of the Sweets

October 23rd

Happy Days Farm & Fresh From Home

October 24th

The (Mis)Adventures of a Born Again Farm Girl

October 25th

The Anderson Family Farm Project

Disclaimer: I received a copy of Fresh Eggs Daily for review. No other compensation was received and all opinions stated are my own.

Clearing The Camera: Early Fall Edition

It's looking more and more like fall around here! I find myself constantly reaching for my camera, so I thought I'd share a few of my current shots. (PS - click here if you'd like to see more photo posts.)

Newly fallen leaves create a vivid blanket of color on the ground.

Early morning dew hangs like pearls on the strands of a spider web.

Emma kitty's eyes pop against the still green grass.

A slowly ripening pumpkin looks beautiful with the fallen leaves.

What signs of fall are you seeing out your back door?

~Tammy

Shared with Tuesday Muse 

PS - Don't forget to visit Daisy, Staci and and our new blogger, Sue, today for their posts in the Homemade Living series. Next week I will share my post along with Mary and Jackie.

Mum's The Word

One of my favorite things about fall is seeing my mums begin to bloom again. To me, the season hasn't truly started until these lovely, bright flowers burst open with their vivid hues.

I have never had much luck with growing mums in containers (I think I water them too much) but I have found that they flourish in the ground. I love that after they are established, they are very low maintenance and don't require regular watering or attention. I do pick back any buds that appear before mid-July to encourage bushier growth and cut the plants way back in the early spring, but really that's about it.

Right now we only have a couple of mum plants, but hopefully we can add some more soon. They are one of my favorite flowers!

Do you grow mums in your garden?

~Tammy

Shared with Maple Hill Hop 

Feathered Friend Friday: Chickens With Disabilities

Welcome to our "Feathered Friend Friday" series. Each Friday I write a post with interesting facts, photos, or funny stories about our chickens and guineas. If you need to catch up, you'll find all the Feathered Friend Friday posts here.      
 
Several months ago, I noticed one of our older hens seemed to be having problems with her vision. Tubs was acting a little bit off and constantly turning her head to see with only one of her eyes. I gave her a good once over and noticed that indeed one of her eyes looked much different.

Not only was it discolored, but the pupil looked very strange. It was almost as if there was a hole in the center and it appeared white and cloudy. I knew something was wrong, but I wasn't sure what caused it. The one thing I did know was that she no longer had vision in that eye.

For about a week she acted somewhat disoriented while adjusting to only being able to see out of one eye. I was getting worried about her, but eventually she was used to her new normal and began to show signs of her old self again. Her other eye is healthy and no other chickens were having problems, so my best guess is that she was pecked in the eye which caused her to lose vision.

Thankfully, she doesn't seem to be affected by it at all anymore and hasn't lost her assertive, confident, take charge personality. Especially when she spots a treat.

Do you have any animals that have learned to live and thrive with disabilities?

~Tammy